Editorial: Funding must follow PARCC

A new, standardized exam system to replace the 17-year-old MCAS test holds both promise for students and presents challenges to the state and school districts.

Of course the new testís name is about a mile long: Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

PARCC for short.

The new test holds the promise of what educators ó and MCAS critics in general ó hold out for standardized tests. Itís designed to measure a studentsí ability to reason, think and create solutions. The test even adapts questions based on an individual studentís responses.

The test can adapt because the student takes it on a computer ó or is supposed to take it on a computer.

And thereís the problem.

Only about 50 percent of the commonwealthís school districts have the technology to administer the test by computer. If the state were to convert to the PARCC today, many students in poorer districts would have to take the exam the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil. Thus defeating one of the testsí key innovations ó adaptability.

"If you donít have the technology for the PARCC exam for your district, then you would take a paper-and-pencil exam," Peabody School Committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne said. "You are putting them already at an instant disadvantage, which is going to further drive down the test scores.

"And because everyone is evaluating districts on test scores, your urban and less wealthy districts are going to come out on the bottom," she said. "How fair is that to students?"

The state has until Oct. 15 of next year to decide whether to switch completely over to the PARCC exam.

Individual school districts are already deciding whether to adopt the PARCC or to wait and see, and stay with the MCAS until they have to change.

Thus far, according to the state, 11 North Shore communities have decided to go with PARCC and eight have voted to stay with the MCAS.

Statewide of the 297 districts that have decided on a test for this school year, 59 percent chose PARCC, while 41 percent selected MCAS.

Clearly, an exam that adapts to the student and tests the studentís ability to reason, gather information, write and think creatively is far superior to the current MCAS exam, which tests a studentís recall of static facts and formulas.

PARCC can change not only the way we test students, but also the way we teach them. There would be less "teaching to the test." There would be more emphasis on teaching students how to apply their skills and knowledge to solve problems, as they would in a job or in college.

A more creative test would likely produce a more creative curriculum ó indeed, the test is supposed to be more aligned with the federal "common core" curriculum standards.

Page 2 of 2 - "Thereís too much emphasis on recall, that thereís not enough requirement of students to think, do research, to read, to write, to explain their reasoning, to apply their math skills," state Education Commissioner Chester Mitchell said. "And these are all components that we have built into the new PARCC assessment."

These are all worthy goals and make the PARCC exam worth adopting ó but only if the state and federal governments can ensure all students take the exam on computer.

The federal and state governments have promised aid to bring school districts up to speed. Dunne has her doubts.

"Iíve been to the dance too many times," Dunne said. "Iíve seen exactly what happens every year. They say, ĎOh youíll be funded. Youíll get all the money.í No, we donít."

If the state is going to adopt the PARCC upgrade, the financial aid to bring all school districts up to speed must be part of the equation. Half the stateís students taking an exam designed for computers via paper and pencil wonít cut it. Itís not fair. And itís wrong.